Interferometer for variable astrophysical radio sources

With the recent observational confirmation of accretion bursts in high-mass protostars, high-mass star formation has entered the discipline of time-domain astronomy. These bursts of accretion cause variations in the radio continuum emission and radio frequency maser emission emitted by these protostars, but the causes and mechanisms by which these variations arise have yet to be explored exhaustively. The associated rising demand for high-cadence observations calls for the development of observational facilities that can effectively monitor the radio frequency continuum and maser emission in a manner that provides high detection sensitivity and can be highly automated. We have initiated the Interferometer for Variable Astrophysical Radio Sources (IVARS) project, which comprises the development of an 800-m single-baseline radio interferometer, along with highly automated observation and data processing infrastructure, to monitor a sample of 30 high-mass protostars. We describe the project background and automation tools developed as part of the IVARS project.